Elementary Essentials

The Scope and Sequence Committee met on November 7th to write the pacing guides for 3rd and 4th Quarters. Thanks so much to these wonderful teachers who gave up a day away from their students to review your feedback and pull together all of the information for each grade level.

These documents will be available on the ELA Website during the first week of December. They can be found using the following path: ELA Website – Elementary – Curriculum Resources by Grade Level – (pick your grade level) – Pacing Guides 2024-25. You are welcome to print them from the ELA Website. We will also have a paper copy available at the January 6th Professional Learning.

NEW! Share pictures and videos of anything Wit and Wisdom by clicking this link or scanning this QR code.

Module 2, Extreme Settings, has two replacement texts. We replaced Hatchet (it is used extensively at 6th grade in the district) with Alone in the Woods, and selected a new wilderness survival guide. The first arc of lessons affected are lessons 11-16. These lessons refer to the new text, Kids’ Survival Guide: Practical Skills for Dangerous Situations by Ben Hubbard. If approved by the Board of Education at the December 5th meeting, we will be able to order the text and deliver them to classrooms as soon as possible. Each classroom will receive eight copies of the book. A scanned copy of the book, and the revised lessons are available on the ELA Website (Wit & Wisdom folder – 4th grade Module 2 Revised Lessons) right now. The revised lessons have been sent to printing and will come to you in a booklet in early December.

The 4th-grade coaches and I have been hard at work revising the arc of lessons that go with the new text, Alone in the Woods. It is not anticipated that any teachers would need this information until second semester; however, we will put the revised lessons up on the ELA Website as we finish them so that you have access to them through December. These lessons will also be sent to printing and we will send the booklet out to you as soon as they are done. Thanks for your patience as we work through this process.

Have a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving Break!

This season of gratitude offers a meaningful opportunity to pause and reflect, allowing me to recognize and share my appreciation for the goodness that surrounds me. I want to take this moment to express my heartfelt appreciation for the incredible work you do every day. Your unwavering dedication to fostering a love of learning and building strong mathematical foundations for our students does not go unnoticed. Equally remarkable is your commitment to supporting the academic, social, and emotional needs of every child you teach.

It is truly a privilege to learn from, support, and work alongside such passionate and talented educators. May this fall break bring you the time and space to reflect, recharge, and share gratitude for all the good in your life.

As we reach the midpoint of the school year, it’s a valuable time to analyze our students’ growth through the Winter FastBridge Screeners. As a reminder, PreK and Kindergarten do not take FastBridge until they return from Winter Break. However, the assessment window for grades 1-5 opens December 2.

Pre K and Kindergarten: January 13-31

Grades 1-5: December 2-20

Q2 QBAs are just weeks away. The window for grades 2, 3, 4 and 5 opens on Friday, December 6, and ends on Thursday, December 12. The assessed standards are listed below, per grade level. As always, we encourage students to utilize the allowable resources specific to their grade level (see links below).

Allowable Resources/Manipulatives for ALL students

3rd Grade – No KAP Resource Page

4th Grade Resource Page- NEW

5th Grade Resource Page- NEW

Beginning December 1, access to hoodamath.com will be blocked. Similar to Cool Math Games, this site includes some math-related content, but it also contains numerous non-math games, ads, and pop-ups, which have proven to be problematic. If there are specific features on this site that you’d like help finding alternatives for, please feel free to reach out for support.

The Kiewit Engineering Group has donated plant seed kits to 2nd graders to engage in a hands-on plant lab! Each kit has two dirt disks, two containers, pea seeds and full instructions to observe and record how the pea seeds grow in light vs darkness – see photo attached. These kits will have everything needed for the seed growing experience, except for the water!

This aligns well with Module 6: Plants and Their Needs, which includes the Performance Expectation 2LS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow. These kits could be used now or saved for Module 6, as this would be an activity where students may wonder, ask questions, and collect data via measurement, photos, draw pictures, etc., that could be discussed in your classes. The data collected could then be revisited when doing Module 6.

If you are interested in receiving these, please email me with the number of students in your class.

I hope each of you has had a great day. Please check out the 2024-25 social studies newsletter for important social studies related items.

Elementary Social Studies Curriculum Revision:

If you are interested in serving on the curriculum revision committee for elementary social studies, please fill out this form. We will be working to update the curriculum and align the standards with each grade level as well as reviewing new resources. This process will continue next year, with full implementation slated for the fall of 2026. This opportunity will also include high-quality instructional activities and practices that will engage your students in "doing" social studies! Committee members will be notified of selection after winter break.

Thank you for all you do!